Enter passcode with dead screen?

The only way past the passcode lock will be to force it into DFU mode and restore as new. No matter how you cut it, they are going to loose those photo's at this point (I suppose they could pay a fortune and take it to a data recovery company to pull them directly off the memory chips themselves).

Yes, a lot of people do fail to backup or sync, but then many of those people also suffer the same fate as this case - loosing precious data when their devices go belly up.

kristin. wrote:

Michael: When restoring an iPhone, is it a secure erase? Or, would it be possible to restore the iPhone and then run data recovery on the device?

That I am not sure. Prior to the use of an encrypted file system, yes, erase all content on the device or restore as new in iTunes actually over-wrote the file system with zeroes. With the inclusion of data encryption as part of iOS, I don't know if that still applies but I think not (I think it just deletes the encryption key). Either way, I would not count on the data being recoverable, and certainly not with simply consumer level tools. Not all user data is encrypted, but much is, and you would want someone who really understands iOS file system structure to try it.

If they really want to pay for data recovery - I would find a company (I do not know of any myself) and take it to them without doing ANYTHING further to it. The more anyone tries to mess with it, the less likely data recovery would be I'd expect. And I cannot imagine it will be cheap.

P.S. there may be a more recent version of this document, but this is from last year:

http://images.apple.com/iphone/business/docs/iOS_Security_Oct12.pdf

Is the screen black and completely dead or is it still touch sensitive? I had the screen on my IPhone 5 go black on me yesterday and freaked out when the Apple Store told me that I lost everything since my last back up which was almost a year ago and that there was NOTHING they could do, since I couldn't enter the password. Siri still worked on my phone and I realized that the phone was still touch sensitive when I answered an incoming phone call by tapping the screen where the "Answer button" would have been. So I took the phone back home with me, I took a screen shot of somebody else's IPhone's Password screen, resized and printed it so I had a template showing me exactly where the numbers on the phone would be. I pushed the "power down" button at the top, did a swish at the top of the screen where it would normally say "slide to power down", so the phone shut off. I then turned it back on, did a swish on the bottom of the screen where it would normally stay "slide to unlock" and then entered the password keeping a close eye on the template that I had created. It actually worked on my 7th try, after I finally disconnected the phone from my PC, so make sure it's disconnected. You first need to unlock the phone and then connect to your PC/ITunes for your back-up. I got the phone unlocked and was able to recover ALL of my data, including 2000 picutures. Rather disappointing that nobody at the Apple Store mentioned this trick.

Some company like this - http://www.flashfixers.com/Articles.asp?ID=277 is the only solution I can think of.

And I know nothing about this particular company - they were just the first hit in a google search. I'm just saying that a professional data recovery service like this is likely the only viable option at this point.

Ok so I might have found a solution by accident, if you have 2 factor authentication on.

I have an ipad with a dead screan (kids dropped it in the kitchen zinc and left it there for 2 hours before I found it), but that also switches on and can take Siri commands etc.

I could not sync with iTunes as I got the message stating I should Trust the device by confirming the message on the device (or something to that effect).

I was prodding my black screen like a madman hoping to hit the right button, but this this bore no fruit.

I then happened upon this thread and whilst reading it, wondered if this iPad was backing up to iCloud. I then proceeded to log into icloud.com (with my ipad still plugged in to my Macbook) and when I logged in, I got a message on the icloud page asking if I want to trust this device (same as when connected to iTunes). I said yes and got the same message that I should confirm on device, which of course I could not do. But then I had an option to send a text message to my phone as 2-factor authentication. I got the text, typed it into the icloud.com prompt and voila, I could also access my ipad on iTunes on my macbook and do a full sync and backup there.

Not sure if this will work for everyone or the OP, but it worked for me. Maybe a fluke? Not sure but at least I now have a backup of my ipad on my macbook as well and could sync my photos.

Yes, that was what caught my attention in that FlashFixers link:

"Yes, all this content can be recovered even if the iPhone is disabled and the passcode is unknown!"

They have a toll free number, so it might be worth calling a couple of these sorts of places and see how much it might be? Anyhow, good luck with it.

Hi Kristin,

I certainly can sympatize with your frustration from many 'off topic' replies you received due to you opening/working on device. ***********

Anyway, though I'm sure you've found some solution to the passcode problem by now- I'll offer this info for what it's worth;

THE GOOD NEWS;

I was easily able to enter a passcode on a lit screen w/o digitizer via an old Apple iPad/iPhone 30 pin keyboard dock device I bought ca. iPad1. I'm sure it could also work on a black screen this qualification [from observation]; the first keystroke only brings up the 4 digit code input screen. No code input takes place, so it'll mess you up even w/ proper code by by entering 3 of 4 digits . [IE: My passcode 5776 when entered immediately only fulfilled 3 digits- 776 in places 1,2,3- NOT 5776 in places 1,2,3,4. After visual verification [which luxury your black screen cannot afford], I noticed the error and just added an extra keystroke before the proper code.

THE BAD NEWS;

I found no way to get past the Trust/Don't Trust touch choice w/ the same keyboard. Without that final selection, I think saving data becomes near impossible. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'll just say it wasn't as important to my situation as it was/is to yours.

***********

<Edited by Host>

Hey, so this solution is kind of late but it's thinking outside the box:

Get a keyboard that you can connect through the doc connector, and press the home button on he keyboard and type in the passcode. If you can somehow swipe the screen or something to get to the passcode screen, you can type in the passcode through the keyboard. Another thing, I don't know about how it was working back in 2013 because I don't remember but now, the photos app or iPhotos pops up on my Mac whenever I plug in my phone whether my passcode is typed in or not.. doing that might work on the computer that was synced with this iPhone before. Hope this helps :) let me know if it does (or if I'm too late)

Are you absolutely positive they never set up Photo stream?

Are you a certified (by Apple) repair technician?

If not, you just voided their warranty, and Apple will not touch it with an eleven-foot pole.

The 'discounted price' you referred to ($200) is the Out-Of-Warranty replacement price. Apple doesn't just 'discount' phones. There has to be a reason, which in this case, would be the OOW. What you just did voided that. Unless the Apple Store manager is intoxicated the day they go in, it's not happening.

Whoever told you that was wrong. Opening up the device, by a non-tech, automatically & irrevocably voids the warranty. There is absolutely NO need to open up the device to try to recover the photos normally.

And if opening it was neccessary, then the customer has two options:

1. Try to recover the photos in the manner you describe.

2. Get the phone replaced for the out-of-warranty price.

Not both.

I don’t know what you have tried already, but about the only hope is if you have recently synced your phone with iTunes on your computer you may be able to connect with the USB cable and download the photos. If the phone and iTunes are paired in a trust relationship you would not have to enter a passcode just to download photos.

other possibilities, which from your post you’ve considered, if you had previously enabled iCloud Photos on the phone your photos are already in iCloud and you can access them at https://iCloud.com. or if you had enabled automatic iCloud daily backup you can restore the phone, then reload that backup.

My initial thought is how can somoene possibly be using their iPhone as the sole storage for what are undoubtedly the most important pictures one can possibly have. There must be other copies of these pictures!